The present invention relates to devices for protecting the oil sealing assemblies used in rotary engines for the purpose of preventing lubricating oil from seeping out of a lubricating oil chamber, located radially inwardly of the rotor on the drive shaft side thereof, into the engine combustion chamber located peripherally about the rotor.
In rotary engines, there is usually provided a side seal on each side of the rotor to prevent combustion gas in the combustion chamber from entering the chamber in which lubricating oil is present. In addition, an oil sealing assembly including an O-ring is also provided radially inwardly of such a side seal on each rotor side to inhibit rotor lubricating oil from flowing into the combustion chamber.
However, there still exists a likelihood that combustion gas may escape through the side seal by leakage occurring between the side seal and the sides of the engine housing. Such leakage would result in exposure of the oil sealing assembly to the combustion gases during eccentric rotation of the engine rotor. Since the combustion gases are of extremely high temperatures, the O-ring in the oil sealing assembly may be badly damaged by exposure to such high temperature heat thereby impairing the sealing performance of the assembly.
Usually, there are provided two or more oil sealing assemblies on each side of the rotor to assure high oil sealing efficiency. In such a case, the radially outermost oil sealing assembly will be most adversely affected since it is closer to the combustion chamber and it is more likely to have its O-ring exposed to the heat of the combustion gas thereby rendering it unable to perform its oil sealing function. Furthermore, since an O-ring is provided in each of the oil sealing assemblies, the overall size of the oil sealing mechanism is necessarily enlarged in width taken radially of the rotor, and there thus arises a space problem when plural units of oil sealing assemblies are to be provided on both sides of the rotor.
The present invention is aimed at providing means for protecting the oil sealing assembly in a simple and expedient manner without requiring enlargement of the overall sealing mechanism to the extent necessary when plural oil seals must be utilized.